Welcome to December: Drier, Sunnier, Cooler Days Ahead for South Jersey

As the Garden State concludes two days of solid, healthy rainfall, skies will clear to sunshine as temperatures begin a slow decline.

3+ inches of rain! Just what the doctor ordered for drought-stricken northern and central New Jersey! As we closed the record books on November, Newark Airport - in the middle of NJ's "severe drought" area - ended its wettest month since April 2014. (According to the NJ Weather and Climate Network.)

Additionally, daily rainfall records were broken on Wednesday at two of New Jersey's climate reporting stations:

--1.07 inches at Newark, breaking the previous record of 0.90 inches set in 1957 (2nd day in a row of record precipitation)
--0.95 inches at Trenton, breaking the previous record of 0.76 inches set in 1898

As I'm typing this blog post, we're experiencing our "last licks" of the rain, with residual showers and sprinkles along the eastern edge of New Jersey. As drier air filters in to the state later Thursday morning, skies will quickly clear to mostly sunny.

Meanwhile, thermometers remain on the mild side as of Thursday morning, in the 50s and 60s. As that drier, cooler air arrives, temperatures and dew points will drop through the afternoon. We've almost certainly hit our daily high temperature already, as afternoon temperatures will decline to the lower to mid 50s. Thursday will also feature a gusty westerly wind, up to 35 mph along the coast.

So it's going to feel a lot more "December-ish" by Thursday evening. And Thursday night will be seasonably chilly, as lows end up in the mid 30s by Friday morning. A light freeze is possible in the coldest spots.

Friday will be a near-normal early December day. Expect sunny skies, a breeze to 20 mph, and highs near 50 degrees.

The slow cooldown continues into the weekend. Highs on Saturday will be limited to the upper 40s, under mostly sunny skies.

Sunday gets even cooler, peaking in the mid 40s, at best. We'll see a few extra clouds overhead during the day Sunday. It will certainly be "jacket weather" with those temperatures holding about 5 degrees below seasonal norms.

New Jersey could get clipped by a storm system late Sunday through early Monday, providing a chance for showers. Most likely rain shower, but there could be some snow in North Jersey too. In any case, it's not a direct hit, so significant weather issues are not anticipated for now.